Saturday, December 24, 2011

What better way to spend Christmas Eve then by talking about one my favorite comics from Christmas past. Comico Christmas Special #1 features five unique holiday stories all written by Doug Wheeler (Swamp Thing) and drawn by some of the best in the biz, including Steve Rude and Tim Sale, as well as a nice cover by Dave Stevens.

The issue kicks off with "Living for Christmas", a futuristic story of a man who chooses to sleep in suspended animation and only wakes up during Christmas each year. Great story about the importance of family and what Christmas truly means...and clearly, that meaning is lost on Mr. Altman...whose family has long past away now that he has lived for over 185 years.

Next up is "Too Many Santas", a tale of a boy who realizes that Santa Claus can't be real if he is ringing bells on every street corner in town. Things take a turn for the worse when the "real" Santa arrives to deliver the boy's gifts...only to be met by a loaded gun. Interestingly enough...the boy is about to learn the true secret of Santa....

"The Stiflemix Diaries", penciled by Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween), examines another futuristic tale where Christmas has been banned in all other months except December by the Government. A secret group called the Noel Liberation Brigade have assembled to carry out their mission to "Free Christmas" and are planning a protest, all of which are documented in the Stiflemix Diaries.

Up next is "One Winter Day", a tale of a typical December morning in Erie Pennsylvania, and a look into a boy's torment as he is forced to shovel snow off the driveway again and again. How will he escape this duty?

The last story, "Traditions Everlasting" is the best tale of the issue and is beautifully drawn by Steve Rude (Nexus). Here is the story in it's entirety for you to enjoy. Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

It wouldn't be easy to count how many artists were inspired by the legendary Jack Kirby, but I know a good homage when I see one. Dangerworld #1 is a great example of that. Written and penciled by Alan Harvey, the story focuses on a hero named The Wanderer...caught in a world of, well....danger!

The story of Dangerworld is admittedly hard to follow. We have The Wanderer "wandering" around and getting into all sorts of trouble.

He sneaks up on an evil gathering lead by Madaro, The Master of All...who is planning on invading the great Rock City. The Wanderer decides to use Madaro's own devices against him...as he pours the flames of the Signal-Fire Urn on top of the villain.

The flames of the altar doesn't seem to faze Madaro, and he is able to easily overpower the naive hero as he summons a greater foe....the menacing Reptar!

The Wanderer battles Reptar in what I think are the best panels in the issue. Nothing wrong with copying Kirby's style...as long as it's done well...which I think Harvey pulls off here.

The story might be lacking, and the artwork might not be quite up to the caliber that Kirby put forth...it still is enjoyable to look at and there are some terrific panels to be had here. Although Dangerworld lasted three issues, it looks like a new version of the comic is being self-released by Bill Harvey, who I am guessing is the same guy as Alan Harvey...for the artwork looks exactly the same as this version.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Track Rabbit #1 is the first mini-comic created by Geoff Vasile. It features a tale called, "Look To The Stars" which tells the story of Peter, a science fiction-reading geek who gets dumped by his artsy girlfriend and finds himself entrapped in another relationship with a girl named Anthea. Peter digs Anthea at first, but soon realizes they have little in common.

To combat the stresses he's enduring in the relationship, Peter decides to build a spaceship...out of his own science fiction novels.

Peter's plan involves taking Anthea for a quick ride in his creation and then dumping her...however, his plans change as the ship loses control and the troubled couple find themselves traveling through space, and eventually, another planet appears.

The ship endures a hard landing and the engine blows up shortly after they arrive. Several months after the crash-landing, Peter and Anthea meet the planet's inhabitants...which are cute alien monkey thingies. Anthea loves 'em, while Peter does not get along with them at all.

The ship eventually turns back into a pile of science fiction books for Peter to read, while his relationship with Anthea gets decidedly casual as she befriends the alien monkey thingies. One day a spaceship appears, only to lift Anthea and her new found friends off to another planet. Anthea says goodbye to Peter, and offers an explanation as to why she is leaving him on the planet to die.

This is a great first work and mini comic by Geoff Vasile. He has since produced a few more issues of Track Rabbit. Be sure to check those out as well as his other works, and you can find more info at his website here: http://geoffvasile.com/

Saturday, November 19, 2011

I've been buying a lot of Underground Comix from the early seventies lately, and came across this beautiful artifact created by renowned underground artist Victor Moscoso. Color shares more than a few historical references within the Underground Comix realm. It was the first underground work published in full color, as well as the first to become a full-fledged 11-minute short film entitled Cosmic Comics.

Moscoso rose to fame with his contributions to R. Crumb's Zap Comix during the scene's heyday, and his brand of cute, bendable characters within psychedelic worlds became his trademark artistic style. This work in particular was used as a storyboard for an animation project that never got off the ground, but was picked up years later by Amsterdam film-maker Olaf Stoop as a short film project (the aforementioned Cosmic Comics) which is currently out of print.

Victor Moscoso's Color is a psychedelic trip of funny, violent, and sexually explicit artwork. The whole experience begins within the cover itself, where a spaceship orbits another planet. The spaceship turns into a fish, and the fish swims in a fish tank. The fish tank sits on a table in a living room, where a couple are shooting the breeze on a couch. The couch turns into some sort of bad guy, who proceeds to beat the living hell out of the couple. From there, the strip descends into a wave of violence as the man attempts to deal with the intruder.

Once the villain is taken care of, the strip proceeds to get sexually explicit as the couple get hot and heavy with each other. I've decided not to share these pages here, but you get the idea....the couple go at it until a climatic ending, where they explode as the man yells, "Nothing Lasts!". The spaceship enters the frame and also gets it's freak on with a woman while birds crash into the planet in the background.

More sexually freakish insanity ensues as a man turns into a giant penis and is used as a mount for a servicing prostitute. The strip ends as the spaceship heads back out into space as a giant robot-bird grabs the ship and brings it back to the mothership, which proudly claims the backpage of the issue.

Moscoso's artwork really shines in Color, and you can see his various inspirations as homages to M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali make appearances here. His use of inks and coloring should also be noted, as they really add literally another dimension to his artwork.

Color may have been just another artistic acid-trip from the era of Underground Comix debauchery, but it also served as inspiration for art aesthetics and stands as a microcosm for it's time. The sex, drugs and violence of the early 70's still drip off the pages of my worn and tattered copy, albeit beautifully....in full color.

Friday, November 11, 2011

With a busier schedule and some out-of-town trips I was unable to post as many Halloween comics as I would have liked, but no worries...I will save the rest for next year. Now that October has faded into memory, time to get back to the good ol' obscure stuff.

Tigress #1 is based off of the below illustration by Mike Hoffman, which is inspired by the beautiful artwork of a man that goes by the name of Frank Frazetta. It amazes me how many people Frazetta's art has inspired to pick up a pencil and begin drawing, and Hoffman is no exception. He captures the essence of Frazetta's style perfectly here, with a story to go along with it that would make Wally Wood proud.

The story involves a strange, uncharted world full of prehistoric dinosaurs, giant bugs, and....well cat-women. A rocketship approaches the planet, responding to a beacon sent by a lost rocket years before.

The crew land and find themselves face-to-face with Tigress, the cat-woman who holds a mysterious past with the previous astronaut of the missing rocket. Tigress befriends the crew and leads them to the crash site of the missing rocket, but before they know it they are attacked by a giant dinosaur.

Things get hairier as the crew find themselves at the mercy of the other cat-people, and Tigress is captured by her own people and tied to a stake for her role in helping the humans.

The first issue of Tigress might be a very simple science fiction story...but that's why I like it. It's more of an ode to the aforementioned artists/writers than anything else, which is right up my alley. Unfortunately Tigress only lasted two issues, but the character has appeared in various other series under different publishers since then. Any fans of Frazetta or Wood might be inclined to check this out.

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Here at Off The Beaten Panel may you feast your eyes on a humongous pile of forgotten comics of the strangest variety...

All images are owned and copyrighted by the original creators. Feel free to open the images in a new page to read them enlarged. Content holders, please contact me if a scan is requested to be removed. Enjoy!